


Against the Dying Light (final)

by Jennawynn, Rhapsody0607



Category: Call of Cthulhu (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 23:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14091819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennawynn/pseuds/Jennawynn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhapsody0607/pseuds/Rhapsody0607
Summary: The final assault of the party to try to return Cthulhu to his slumber.





	Against the Dying Light (final)

**Author's Note:**

> We weren't sure we'd get to explore our characters' relationship in the game without hogging too much time and camera from the others, so we sat down and wrote this.
> 
> A touch of backstory to make things clearer, Cyan's an actress who uses a stage name (named for the color of her pixie cut like P!nk) and Arizona is a high-ranking organized crime boss. Arizona's a big flirt who turned soft around Cyan and has been calling her "Princess" since the beginning, but Cyan's had walls up since they met. Cyan's also been documenting their whole adventure with her cellphone set in a pocket as both light and camera.

The group returned to the boat tired and aching. Arizona took their newest shipmate down to the infirmary to be held under quarantine.

 

“Hey, Saiid? Any chance we can swing by someplace with a town so we can stop kidnapping the rest of the people onboard?” Cyan asked. They’d found what they were looking for and it didn’t make much sense to keep carting the Tahitian refugees along with them as they sought to cross the Pacific again.

 

The mummy looked at the map he was studying. “Yes, yes, I think I can convince the Captain to stop off in a seaside coastal port before we complete our journey.” 

 

Cyan smiled. “Thanks.”

 

“I dunno about you guys, but I think we all deserve a drink after the day we’ve had,” Arizona said, returning from belowdecks.

 

“Well… this is a ship. There’s gotta be booze somewhere.”

 

“Let’s go find out,” Arizona said, gesturing to Cyan and Ros to follow.

 

“Maybe just one,” Ros said.

 

“There you go, Doc. Loosen up a little,” Cyan laughed, clapping Ros on the shoulder.

 

The three women all headed downstairs while Saiid walked up to the Captain’s deck. 

 

Cyan called out, “Ask the crew, Glasseater!”

 

Not five minutes later, the women were in a cargo hold with a bottle of alcohol. Arizona opened the bottle and looked at Ros. “Straight outta the bottle or do we need glasses?”

 

“What is it?”

 

“I think it’s rum,” she replied before taking a quick drink from the bottle. “Definitely rum.”

 

“Not my favorite, but pass it over,” Cyan said, taking the bottle from Arizona. She took a drink and passed the bottle to Ros.

 

“So that’s a no on the glass, huh?” Ros took a small drink.

 

“We don’t have cooties, Doc,” Cyan replied.

 

“Actually, we’re pretty sure you do,” Ros replied, referring to the goo-infected shoulder wound Cyan had gotten a week ago. “Arizona though, she should really get herself checked out soon.”

 

Cyan laughed, apparently misunderstanding the statement. Cyan took the bottle and took another drink. Arizona waved her newly wounded hand, hastily bandaged after cutting it on a goo-covered tooth, and held her other hand out for the bottle. “I’ll take any cooties you have, Princess.” 

 

Cyan handed her the bottle with an eye roll. “Do those lines ever work?”

 

“On lesser minds, my charm totally works.”

 

Ros coughed out a laugh, “‘Charm’? Is that what you kids are calling it these days?”

 

Cyan playfully winced. “Ooh, bad move, Glasseater. That means if you ‘win’, I’m stupid.” 

 

Arizona objected, waving her hand in a ‘no’ gesture as she swallowed a drink of the rum. “No, no, you misunderstand. My cheesy lines aren’t working  _ because _ you’re not stupid. You actually make me work for it… I mean, dammit woman, I would have  _ never _ risked our safety for some looney toon guy who’s been trapped underground for decades. I’m all about self-preservation and you make me do dumb things… like run towards sea monsters _ just  _ to make sure you’re ok.”

 

Cyan reached over and took the bottle from Arizona and handed it to Ros with a grin. “Someone’s a lightweight.”

 

“I am so not a lightweight,” Arizona said, clearly tipsy. “I just… can’t words right now.” 

 

Ros took a sip. “Should I leave you two alone?”

 

Arizona shook her head. “No way. You’re part of this,” she said, gesturing between the three women.

 

Cyan laughed. “I don’t think Doc’s girlfriend would approve.”

 

Arizona frowned in confusion for a moment before her face shifted into a look of comprehension. “Oh my god, that’s not what I meant! I mean like we’re a team, like the Power Rangers, the Ninja Turtles, the Justice League!” She put her hands on her hips in a superhero pose. 

 

“I call pink, Mikey, and Wondy!” Cyan shouted as Ros said, “As long as I’m Wonder Woman.”

 

Arizona laughed. “You guys can fight over Wonder Woman. I want to be Aquaman.”

 

Cyan looked at Ros. “Arm wrestle you for her?”

 

“I’ll ref!” Arizona said. “Let’s go, Doc!”

 

“Can’t we find a slightly more level field of combat?”

 

“Come on, Doc, afraid a tiny girl like me will beat you?” 

 

“Could we do a chance-based game, maybe? Something your groupie here can’t pick you as the winner?”

 

Arizona frowned and Cyan chuckled as she took another drink from the bottle. “I dunno. Guess we can flip a coin or something, but if it means that much to you, I’ll take Supes. Being bulletproof can’t be a bad thing.” 

 

Cyan hopped up on a long crate pushed against the wall. She took a drink and passed the bottle on, then leaned back against the cool metal wall. Arizona took the bottle from her and passed it to Ros. “Have another drink, Doc.”

 

Ros took it. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

 

“Maybe,” Cyan grinned. 

 

“Just trying to loosen you up. We’re sharing. Bonding time. You know… one last party before the ultimate battle.”

 

Arizona quickly moved to fix her statement when she saw Cyan’s frown. “Princess, I don’t mean it like a ‘one last ride’ type of thing. I just mean this is our pep party so we can take on the big baddie. We’ll… totally be fine.” 

 

Cyan glared at her, clearly not believing the lie. 

 

“Besides,” Arizona continued, “we have the whole package here. Brains,” she said, pointing at the archaeologist, “Brawn,” she added, pointing to herself, “and Beauty. Together, we’re deadly!”

 

Cyan absently rubbed her infected shoulder, an infection that could cost her life or her sanity. “Let’s just… go back to arguing about Wonder Woman. It was more fun.” 

 

Arizona nodded and patted Cyan’s leg. “Sure, Princess. By the way, Aquaman can totally kick Superman’s ass.” She took the bottle from Ros’s outstretched hand and handed it to Cyan.

 

Cyan took a long drink before handing it back. “The waterboy couldn’t possibly beat the man of steel.” 

 

Arizona put the bottle down and sat next to Cyan before launching into a lengthy argument about why Aquaman was better than Superman. Cyan just shook her head and dozed off, listening to her talk.

 

“Pft,” Ros said several minutes into the argument. “Wonder Woman has bested the entire Justice League.”

 

Arizona chuckled and hopped down from the crate. “I’m going to take her to her room. Do you want to continue after?”

 

Ros shook her head. “I think I’d rather shower and eat.” 

 

Arizona smiled. “Let’s call it a night then.” As Ros left the room, Arizona picked up Cyan in a bridal carry. Cyan instinctively curled in towards her and rested her head on Arizona’s shoulder. 

 

Arizona was careful not to bump Cyan into any of the walls or doorways on the way to her cabin, and she gently placed her on her bed. When she turned to leave, she heard a faint, pleading “Stay?”

 

She turned back to see Cyan making half-asleep gestures meant in invitation. Arizona hesitated, but took her boots and Cyan’s off and laid down on the edge of Cyan’s mattress, as far from the starlet as she could get. 

 

Despite her attempts at chivalry, when she woke, Cyan was wrapped around her like a koala, still sleeping deeply. 

 

Arizona stiffened slightly at the close proximity, but then relaxed into the embrace and waited for Cyan to wake. It wasn’t much longer until Cyan started to stir. She nuzzled into Arizona’s shoulder and her arms and legs wrapped around her tighter until she suddenly stopped. Her eyes flew open in confusion and she quickly untangled herself and backed away until she was sitting against the wall her bed was pushed against.

 

Arizona slowly sat up with her back to Cyan, laced up her boots, and moved towards the door. She had expected this reaction, but it still stung. “It’ll be all right,” she said, as much to herself as anything, and without a glance back, Arizona left the cabin. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next few days, as the ship headed back to the west towards land, every time Arizona entered a room, Cyan found a reason to leave it. Eventually, Arizona decided to just stay put, looking out over the empty ocean while Cyan busied herself with the refugees. She was there on the bow, smoking a borrowed cigarette and drinking from a bottle of whiskey she’d found. She smoked the cigarette slowly, enjoying the burn in her lungs, then drank deeply from the bottle of whiskey, liking the sting of the alcohol on her tongue. She hadn’t felt anything since leaving Cyan’s cabin and now that she actually did, it was a relief. 

 

Juliana approached, shielding herself with an umbrella. 

 

“Cyan asked me to check on your hand,” she explained. “Something about an infection.”

 

Arizona shrugged. “I cut it and since then it’s had the same look as Cyan’s shoulder, so it’s whatever.” 

 

Juliana scoffed. “Whatever.” She handed Arizona her umbrella to hold and took her wounded hand to examine. She pulled off the bandage, and though the black-colored veins were smaller and fainter than they had been in Cyan’s wound, they were still visible. She re-bandaged the wound and took her umbrella back. “It is certainly ‘whatever.’ It will likely take longer to manifest in you, if it is any consolation.” 

 

Arizona nodded in response, then turned back to ocean and continued to lean against the railing, drinking and smoking in silence. Arizona waited until she was certain Juliana had returned belowdecks before she slammed her fist into the metal exterior of the ship. She felt the skin of her knuckles split. She needed to feel alive, no, what she really needed was to run away. Arizona sighed heavily at her circumstances, she was trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean, facing the possibility of losing her mind, with someone who made her feel all sorts of things. There was no running away this time. She'd have to face it, all of it, head on.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juliana, the refugees, and many of the crew left the ship by small boat when they reached port. The Captain was worried their boat might be seized and the passengers arrested if they’d docked. 

 

As the ship approached the strange rock formation that would be their final destination, Arizona found herself listening in as Saiid, Ros, and Cyan discussed plans on the outside deck. Cyan was asking question after question and Arizona didn’t even have to be able to see her to know she was probably bouncing around from seat to floor to seat, full of nervous energy. She stayed put, still nursing the bottle of Jack she’d found, knowing that if she interrupted, Cyan would probably leave… so she’d listen from around the corner, pretending not to be interested at all.

 

“But we can’t just… go put a god to sleep without any plan,” Cyan said.

 

Ros sighed. “Do you know where to look to find out how to put a god to sleep?”

 

“That’s what you’re here for, right? You’re the one who knows things. That’s even what Glasseater said. You’re the brains. She’s the brawn. I get to be the sacrificial lamb or something.”

 

“I suppose that makes me the money then,” Saiid chuckled. 

 

“What are you looking at now?” Cyan asked.

 

“My notes,” Ros answered.

 

“Yeah, but what in your notes? Is it about the ship? Or the symbols? The thing we’re supposed to build? ….or wait, are they supposed to build it or us?”

 

“Just… my notes. On everything.”

 

“Can I help with anything?”

 

“There really isn’t anything I can think of.” 

 

An exaggerated groan from Cyan made Arizona’s lips twitch into a grin. “What do you think, Obi-Wan? What are the odds we all survive this?” 

 

“Never ask me the odds,” Saiid replied. “But, well, who can say? Has anyone ever been where we’re going and returned to tell the tale? Someone must have, because…” Arizona drowned his explanation out with the last of her cigarette. She flicked the butt out into the water, grabbed the bottle, and walked toward the group. She set the bottle down on the table next to Saiid as she walked through.

 

“In case anyone else needs it,” she explained as she kept walking past. A quick glance to the side told her Cyan was looking intently at her own hands, pointedly ignoring her arrival and departure. 

 

She heard Saiid chuckle lightly, then Cyan’s voice again, asking, “You don’t have like… a bazooka or something, do you?”

 

“Sadly, no,” Saiid replied.

 

The voices faded as Arizona stepped inside. She made her way to her cabin with the intent of changing the bandages of her infected hand. Arizona carefully unwrapped the wound and quickly realized it was partially healed, but the black infection that tainted her blood was still present around the cut. She let out an exasperated sigh as she clenched and unclenched the injured hand. “It’ll be all right” she said aloud, mirroring the words she’d said in Cyan’s cabin, then headed back to the others. 

 

Realizing she needed to be part of the decisions going forward, she returned to the deck with the others. “Well, perhaps if we go in there,” Saiid was explaining, “and we need more pieces, we will be able to see the pieces that we need? Like missing puzzle pieces.”

 

Arizona stepped up to the circle and leaned against the wall. “That sounds like a  _ fantastic _ idea.” 

 

Saiid frowned. “If you have a better one, I’m all ears.” He paused, then added with a grin, “Or I would be, if I still had ears.” 

 

Despite Cyan’s refusal to look in Arizona’s direction, she still caught Cyan’s smirk.

 

“Since when do the two of you want a plan?”

 

“Well, Plan T doesn’t seem to work for us very often, so why not give planning a try,” Arizona replied. 

 

“Plan T?” Ros asked.

 

“Plan Take ‘em by storm,” Arizona smiled.

 

“Luck’s only gotten us so far,” Cyan added.

 

Ros raised an eyebrow. “Huh, pretty sure I tried to tell you that a while back.” 

 

“Did you? I don’t remember that,” Cyan replied. “Look, the closer we get to the end, the more likely we are to end up dead. I just want a script to go off. It’s… safer than improv.” 

 

“This isn’t one of your movies,” Ros snapped. Arizona pushed off the wall to lean on the railing, watching the water move.

 

“No kidding. If it was, we’d have a stunt coordinator and I wouldn’t be infected with some goo that’s going to make me go mad.” There was a pause and Cyan continued, more subdued. “If this were a movie, I wouldn’t be worried because when I die, I just get back up and shoot it again.” 

 

“I would not mind this being a video game, in that context,” Saiid replied.

 

“No one’s dying,” Arizona said, still looking out over the water. “That’s why we need a plan. We need to figure out what it is that we’re really going up against and prepare as best we can.”

 

Ros stood with her notes. “And how are we supposed to prepare when we’re in the middle of the fucking ocean? I don’t know what else I can do to figure out the answers to all our questions.”

 

“Everyone is getting very nervous,” Saiid interrupted. “Perhaps we could do something more productive with the nervous energy.” 

 

Arizona turned to find Cyan curled up in her chair, hugging her knees and Ros about to storm off. “Like what, mummy man? We’re trapped on a boat.” 

 

“Perhaps we could make a testimonial of our mission, what it is we’re trying to do. Something we can leave behind on the internet, or with this ship’s captain, in case we…” He trailed off. 

 

Cyan hugged her knees tighter. “That’s… darker than I expected.”

 

Arizona sat down in the chair next to Cyan’s. “No one’s dying,” she repeated before showing Cyan the black trails in her wounded hand. “But if we do, at least we’ll die together.”

 

Cyan uncurled and sat up, then looked up from Arizona’s hand to her eyes. “But… how? It was dead.” There was a hint of something in her voice, Arizona thought. Fear, maybe.

 

Arizona shrugged. “Juliana just said it was definitely infected. This might be the end for us, but maybe it doesn’t have to be the end for humanity. If I’m going, I won’t go quietly. I’m determined to put up a good fight.”

 

“It sounds so much worse when you guys are saying it,” Cyan frowned.

 

Arizona smiled sadly. “That’s because we aren’t as positive as you are.” 

 

“Yes… positive… that we’re all going to die. Ugh. Are we there yet? Let’s just get this over with.”

 

Saiid gestured at the rocks ahead. “We don’t have very long to wait.” 

 

“Good,” Cyan said, sighing.

 

“If the party’s about to start, I need to grab the party favors for our guest.” Arizona excused herself to go get ready. 

 

Arizona moved around the cabin with ease. She strapped on her bulletproof vest then attached her additional magazines of ammo, before finally holstering her weapon. She grabbed her kukri and fit it into the sheath on her outer thigh. She did one last sweep of the room. 

 

On the bed was a letter she had written to her mother and father. In it she explained why she would not be returning home and apologized for hurting them, knowing that they would have to endure the loss of another child. 

 

As she turned to leave the cabin, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her grey eyes showed the same piercing look of determination and ruthlessness that she’d worn when she interrogated– no,  _ tortured _ – that man in Cairo. Her brain had corrected itself in a voice that sounded oddly like Cyan’s.

A smile tugged at Arizona’s lips, but it fell away as quickly as it had appeared. She had intentionally belittled Cyan because it was easier to force others to dislike her than to actually care about someone else, but despite Arizona’s best efforts, she did care about their little group; she did care about Cyan and had cared for sometime now. Arizona resolutely nodded to herself in the mirror. She had to make things right, and it needed to be now or it could possibly be never. 

 

An hour later, Saiid and Arizona were waiting on the deck with the relic of Cairo, watching the ship inch closer to the black tower rising from the small, rocky island. 

 

Cyan walked up wearing a bulletproof vest, a shoulder holster, and a machete strapped to her back. She finished doing something with her phone, then dropped it into a pouch made of duct tape that would allow the camera lens and flashlight to be visible but free her hands. 

 

She stepped up next to Arizona who checked her ammo and readied her weapon. “You look like you walked right out of an action movie.”

 

“I did,” Cyan answered with an automatic wink. Her grin fell and she frowned, apparently trying to refocus. She picked up the relic. 

 

Arizona smiled, then looked back at the tower. “By the way… I’m sorry. For the way I treated you when we first met, for underestimating you, for torturing that guy in front of you, for being overly protective when it wasn’t my place, for not telling you I was infected sooner. I’m just… I’m sorry for being an ass.” 

 

Cyan shook her head. “That sounds too much like good-bye to deal with right now.”

 

Ros came up to the group, fidgeting with her own vest. “I think something got twisted. Can I get a little help?” 

 

Arizona nodded and left to help Ros. 

 

The Captain dropped anchor and lowered the small boat. Cyan hopped inside, then called up to the captain. “Hey, Cap, if we don’t come back… my laptop’s on my bed with an address. Can you ship it out?”

 

The Captain nodded and Arizona gave her a questioning look as she got in the boat.

 

“What Saiid said about a testimonial… it’s part of why I’ve been recording everything. We haven’t had a signal to upload it all to the cloud, so I put it all on my laptop with a message to my roommate to take care of it if we don’t come back within a month.”

 

Arizona nodded, impressed by Cyan’s foresight. “Smart move.”

 

Ros and Saiid followed into the boat and the crew gathered with the Captain to see them off. Nobody smiled or waved. 

 

“At least they aren’t cheering that we’re finally off their ship,” Ros pointed out.

 

“That is true,” Saiid said, “but they don’t really look like they expect us to come back either, do they?” 

 

“All the more reason to come back,” Arizona replied. “To prove everyone wrong.”

 

Cyan started singing. “Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama…”

 

Arizona shook her head and laughed. “Of all the songs you could have picked to fit the imminent danger we face, you pick that one.”

 

“Would you prefer Don’t Fear the Reaper?”

 

Arizona thought about it for a second, then grinned. “Yes, actually. I would prefer that.”

 

Cyan was quiet for a moment as she ran through the lyrics in her mind, then she chuckled. “Come on baby, baby take my hand, we’ll be able to fly?”

 

“I personally would have gone with R.E.M,” Ros said as the boat started moving through the water.

 

“It’s the end of the world, Doc?”

 

“It fits,” she replied with a shrug.

 

“I have Ozzy on standby for the return trip,” Cyan said.

 

“That’s the spirit,” Saiid said with a smile.

 

Ros frowned in thought. “All I can think is Crazy Train.”

 

Cyan smiled softly and sang, “Times have changed, times are strange. Here I come but I ain’t the same. Mama, I’m coming home.” 

 

Arizona replied, “I think Crazy Train might fit our group better though.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona and Cyan both panted heavily,  bent over with their hands on their knees after the statue finally fell into place in front of the door. 

 

“That should hold them.” 

 

As the heavy breathing inside the room subsided, the faint sound of muttering, clawing, and the thumps of tentacles beating against the door grew. They’d run for shelter when the giant ooze-creature came up between them and the rest of their party, and fortifying the door had  seemed the best idea at the time.

 

“Do you think Doc and Saiid made it out?”

 

“I hope they did,” Arizona answered as she looked around the room.

 

Cyan picked up her machete from where she'd dropped it and fit it back into the sheath on her back. She used the light from her phone to help Arizona do a more thorough sweep of the room, looking for alternate exits or anything useful. Unfortunately, the room appeared to be little more than an old storage closet with bits and pieces of rotten wood and broken statues scattered about, but no other doors. 

 

"Well, shit." Cyan sat down against a bare wall, facing the toppled statue that blocked their only escape path.

 

Arizona coughed out a half-laugh and sat next to Cyan. "It could suck more. We could be trapped back in the other room with the tentacle monster. Have our brains eaten or whatever it does."  

 

Cyan sighed and turned the flash of her phone off, leaving only the dim light of the screen to see by. "At least that would be quick. We have maybe a day of light," she said, gesturing to the phone, "a couple days before we die of dehydration. And that's if the infection doesn't drive us to kill each other first."

 

Arizona pulled out her weapon and checked the chamber. "I'd rather not be forced to kill you." 

 

Cyan raised an eyebrow, eyeing the gun. "But you're getting ready to anyway?"

 

Arizona smiled and held it out to Cyan. "No. That's just one option."

 

Cyan took the weapon and set it on the ground before pushing it away with her foot. "What's the other option?"

 

"We could be all poetic and just lose our minds together."

 

Cyan laughed and leaned into Arizona, resting her head on Arizona’s shoulder. "I understood that reference. You know... it didn't end up that great for them either." 

 

Arizona wrapped her arm around Cyan and pulled her closer. "No, it didn't."

 

With a sigh, Cyan melted into the embrace. "I'm sorry too, you know."

 

"What do you have to be sorry about?"

 

"You're not the only one who was being an ass. Teasing and leading you on like I was... I was so mad at you for trying to protect me, but I was doing the same thing. I figured it would hurt you less if we never acted on it... if you survived and I didn't. I shouldn't have taken the choice away from you."

 

Arizona smiled softly. "You didn't take my choice away. I always chose you. I still do."

 

Cyan snorted. "How am I supposed to take you seriously when you say stuff like that?" She paused for a second and her grin fell away. "You make it so easy to just laugh it off and tease back and never worry about being serious... but you are, aren't you?"

 

Arizona tilted her head to find Cyan's eyes in the dim light. "Yes, I am. I don't trust, but I've learned to trust you. I don't care about others, but I care about you. I don't love, but I... know you're important to me."

 

Cyan sat up and looked away. Arizona listened to the erratic thumps coming from outside the room. "You don't even know me,” Cyan continued softly. 

 

"Don't I? I may not know where you grew up, how many bones you've broken, or what your life is like outside of all this madness, but I do know that you're kind and caring. I know you'd do almost anything to help and protect others and that makes you fearless. I know that despite appearances, you're a force to be reckoned with. I know you're fiercely loyal and are driven by a need to do the right thing. And I can't help but be drawn to somebody so resilient, so... raw with emotion that you force yourself to hide it."

 

Cyan was quiet for a long moment and Arizona watched her look up and try to blink back tears. "Denver."

 

Arizona's answering smile brightened the room. "Colorado, huh? I'm from Brooklyn."

 

"Never would've guessed," Cyan smirked. After a pause, the smirk fell into a frown and Cyan stiffened. "Do you hear that?"

 

Arizona frowned. "Hear what?" 

 

Cyan scrambled to her feet and started pulling at the statue they'd toppled. "You don't hear her screaming? We've gotta help her. Help me move this!"

 

Arizona jumped to her feet. "Cyan, wait. Stop! I don't hear anything!"

 

Cyan started tugging at the statue's shoulder. The faint grunts of exertion and grinding noise of stone on stone were the only audible noise besides the ever-present thumping of tentacles at the door. Arizona slowly stepped up to Cyan's side and put her hand on her shoulder, but Cyan didn't seem to notice. She yanked on the statue again and it shifted enough that the door tilted on its hinges. The top corner fell inward, revealing a gap that was instantly filled with a searching tentacle. 

 

Arizona pulled on Cyan's shoulder enough to turn her body and pulled the pistol from Cyan's shoulder holster. She climbed onto the fallen statue and fired several shots down into the gap until the tentacle receded and an inhuman shriek outside was met with a very human scream inside. Arizona turned to see Cyan curled into a ball, covering her ears. She jumped back off the statue and shoved it back against the door before rushing to Cyan. 

 

She put her hands over where Cyan's hands covered her own ears. "Cyan? You're ok now. We're going to be all right. You're ok."

 

Arizona slowly coaxed Cyan up into a seated position, but as she unfolded, Arizona saw a trickle of blood coming from her nose, mixing with the tears streaming from her eyes. Before Arizona could find something to wipe the blood away, Cyan burrowed her face into Arizona's shoulder and wrapped herself around Arizona in desperation. Arizona shifted slightly and pulled her closer. She hummed a tune and ran her fingers through Cyan's short hair, trying to comfort her. 

 

Slowly, Cyan relaxed and came back to herself. "I don't want to die," she whispered.

 

"When I was twenty, I almost died. Some people abducted me, tortured me, left me for dead. It was the first time I was truly afraid. Afraid of dying, afraid that I didn't really live." She sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. I don't really know how to comfort people."

 

Cyan pulled back a bit and chuckled through her tears. "I can tell.... That must have been terrible." She tried to wipe the tears from her face with the heel of her hand. "I just... ever since the infection, I've been trying to accept it. If it had to be done, I needed to be the one to do it... but I'm scared. I don't want to be scared, but I am."

 

Arizona lifted her hand to help wipe her tears, but when she caught sight of the infected cut on her palm, she stopped short. "It's ok to be scared. It doesn't make you weak, it just makes you human. ...and at least you won't be alone." 

 

"You don't think we're going to make it out of here, do you?" 

 

"I think we have a fighting chance if we work together..."

 

"You," Cyan started, putting her hand to Arizona's cheek, "are a terrible liar."

 

"I just can't seem to lie to you." Arizona leaned forward and rested her forehead against Cyan's. "I'm sorry I don't have the right words."

 

Cyan sighed and relaxed a little more, her hand falling from Arizona's cheek to her lap. "They're right enough. I... can't say I'm where you are. Not yet. And we might not ever get the chance to get there... but if things were different, if we don't die here, I think I might like to try."

 

Arizona smiled. "This," she said, motioning between them, "is more than I ever expected."

 

Cyan took a deep breath and exhaled as she sat up to face Arizona. "I don't want to die here. I don't want to go slow and starve or dehydrate or be trapped in a dark room, and clearly the infection's already starting to get to me. We could stay and wait to see if Doc and Saiid made it and are trying to stage a rescue... but what if they're trapped too? I think I'd rather go out fighting. See if we can save them. Who knows... maybe we'll be able to get a drink when it's all over. After all, if the hero survives, they usually get the girl at the end too."

 

Arizona got to her feet and offered Cyan her hand. "Well, are you ready to go save humanity, Princess?"

 

Cyan stared up at her for a moment, then took her hand to stand. "If you keep calling me Princess, I'm gonna regret saying any of this."

 

Arizona grinned, held Cyan's hand tighter, and looked into her eyes. "Well, I wouldn't want that, Cyan."

 

"It's... Patricia, actually. I just thought it was too boring for the stage."

 

Arizona chuckled. "There's nothing boring about you."

 

Cyan picked up their weapons and handed Arizona's to her. "Ready?"

 

Arizona took the gun and nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

 

Cyan turned the flashlight for her phone back on, hit record, and set it back in the pouch on her vest. Arizona felt Cyan’s gaze upon her, but she was reluctant to find Cyan’s eyes in the brightness of the light. She feared that she would see regret or worry there. Arizona steeled herself and finally looked at Cyan. As their eyes locked, Cyan leaned up on her toes and their lips met in tender kiss that promised more. "For luck," Cyan explained as she pulled away. 

 

Arizona beamed. "Plan T: Take 'em by storm." 

 

They pulled the statue away from the door and faced the cultists together.

  
  
  
  



End file.
